Aq̓ám
The Aq̓ám People The Aq̓ám people are inhabitants of the continent of Zephyria. They live in a hot desert climate and mainly rely on hunting for food. The Aq̓ám are usually quite peaceful but, as you may know, a people always has to have it's way! Climate and Geography of the Aq̓ám Area The Aq̓ám desert is mainly quite flat to the west but to the east there is a large mountain range of which the mountains belong to the people's religion. Temperatures can reach up to around 30°-45°C in the summer and 15°-20°C in the winter months. Because of the barren-ness of the land, the Aq̓ám usually have to walk to a freshwater stream. Native Fauna Various animals can be found in the area, this includes animals such as a sarkastodon. Because of the abundance of fossilisation, oh my the paleontologists would go mad, old era fauna seem to have survived. Other animals include many large lizards, velociraptors, and tsaagans. Mainly the tsaagans have been domesticated but sometimes need to be slaughtered and eaten if the food is scarce. Sometimes the men like to take their children, male and female, fishing in the rivers because they cannot hunt yet. This also brings in a nice amount of fish and seafood. A popular delicacy is sea cucumber. Resources and Other The Aq̓ám women always use lapis lazuli in their decorations. On nearly every Aq̓ám village, there is a small "lapis lazuli pantry". This is where the women store their pretty rocks before they carve them and chip them down into things such as beads and combs. Another type of oddity is bone. The women absolutely love to use bone. They get the bone from bodies they find in the desert, or after a feast. They usually wash the bone with salt water and leave it in the sun so it will become whiter. Appearance Many other peoples see the Aq̓ám as very beautiful people. Their skin colours range from a tan to a golden brown, they have black hair, round faces, blue, grey, or green eyes, and thin eyebrows. They usually wear their hair, both male and female, very long. The men usually shave the hair off before their ears so they don't get hair in their face whilst hunting but this usually leads to balding in the area but that isn't as if it is a bad thing; the hair usually is grown to about backside to knee length. They are known for their immaculate height. A man is usually around 200cm tall, and for the women around 180cm. Diet As mentioned, the Aq̓ám are avid hunters. They usually eat meat and fish and nearly always use ingredients such as many herbs, flowers, and spices. Having a meal made up of mainly non-meat items is rare but not impossible. The Aq̓ám eating regime goes as follows: In the evening the Aq̓ám are told (they usually say "by the gods" but it's usually just their mothers) to eat so much they are verging on purging. This is because they usually don't have any breakfast and a small luncheon. Structures The structure of buildings is very important to the Aq̓ám. They are started my building a circular shape with wood, then a large sheet of skin is wrapped around the posts, the skin usually tsaagan or velociraptor because they are feathered (so they are not plucked), and it is tied down onto the wooden posts that stick up out of the ground. Then some curved crescent shaped posts are added on top of the straight posts. At this point, before the roof is put on, the ground is dug out. The floor level is lower than the ground because of warmth and space but it's only dug out around 5". The straight posts are supposed to be long so the structure does not topple over, this can usually mean (in very bad measurements) one half of an Earthly aspen tree. The floor is coated in a clay because the sand may get in. Once the sand has dried, the women weave a large rug to put down. Once the floor is all ready, the roof is put on by just covering it with planks or thin strips of bark. The bark is then tied down. The cob is then made and plastered onto the outside of the structure. It created a barrier and keeps everything down. The door is then made by weaving an intricate pattern that represent the people using the structure. The ouside is usually painted a block colour. A popular colour is blue or red. The women sometime make lattices to hang things off of for the walls. * Category:Zephyria Category:Cultures of Zephyria